The American College of Pediatricians (The College) is alarmed by the increasingly prevalent and unscientific trend to treat Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in children as an inborn trait rather than as the treatable psychological condition it is. GID in children is manifest as a strong desire to be the opposite sex, and/or the belief that he or she actually is the opposite sex.
The story of a California physician who prescribed hormone blockers to an 11-year-old boy to delay the onset of puberty and allow him more time to “decide” his gender, recently made national headlines. The boy’s lesbian parents now call him Tammy instead of Tommy, and allow him to cross-dress. This is scientifically and ethically disturbing.
Puberty is not a disorder. Psychologically dissociating from your biological gender is. Hormone blocking agents induce a disease state (the absence of puberty) at a critical time in a child’s physical, emotional and mental development. Sex hormones not only trigger the development of secondary sex characteristics, but also influence the development of the adolescent brain. This likely explains why most GID children come to accept their biological gender during adolescence.
Children and adults with GID experience higher rates of psychological distress. However, when the impact of hormone therapy (HT) and sex reassignment surgery (SRS) was studied among adults, the individuals were found to be suffering from the same pre-treatment mental health disorders. Consequently, Johns Hopkins University shut down its premier program. When asked about blocking puberty in children Dr. Paul McHugh, professor of psychiatry at John’s Hopkins remarked, “[GID] is a disorder of the mind. Not a disorder of the body. Dealing with it in this way is not dealing with the problem that truly exists.”
Dr. Kenneth Zucker is Psychologist-in-Chief at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, where he heads the Child and Adolescent Gender Identity Clinic in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Zucker has treated over 500 children with GID. He has documented that therapy relieves psychopathology within the family and child, reduces peer social ostracism and results in the acceptance of the child’s birth sex in the vast majority of cases.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, Vice President of the College stated, “Physicians and therapists who embrace HT and SRS for children promote a political agenda not scientific advance. This is obvious once the euphemisms are shed: Chemical castration and the surgical mutilation of children is not ‘therapy.’ It is cold, calculated, institutionalized child abuse at the hands of those charged with healing.”
The American College of pediatricians is a national medical association of licensed physicians and healthcare professionals who specialize in the care of infants, children, and adolescents. The mission of the College is to enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being. For more information about the College, please visit our website www.Best4Children.org.

One Response to “Chemical castration: not the best for children”

You are correct that gender issues typically resolve in children. Most children are only exploring the other side and learn it is not for them. But some children find a connection. The lucky ones find a caregiver that is sympathetic. However most of these children find something very different.

These children learn that cross gender behavior results in punishment. So they learn to hide themselves from the world. In my case I was placed in a church basement for a summer by myself as I was “not socially ready” for first grade. During that summer of solitary confinement I learned to appear to conform. In reality I knew who I was and that I was wrong and I had to be hid it from the world or I would be punished.

Five decades later the researcher are unraveling the mysteries of our DNA and I have leaned that my DNA is a little different than most. The result is part of the naturally occurring gender diversity of the human race. It is not a disorder. It is not a sickness. It is my DNA and the DNA of my grandfather.

As I was growing up without understanding these medical issues I learned to hide my true gender feelings. And as the years past I also learned that if I got good grades, I could get away to college. So I took my grades from D and F to A and B in two years and eventually received an MSEE degree. I just wanted to get away from being ostracized.

I was wrong. I never learned how to make friends as a child as I was in hiding. The result was a life that has been very lonely.

My life started with doctors telling my parents to lie to me about my gender issues. They meant no harm, but they did great harm to me.

Please consider that providing appropriate medical care including medication to delay or prevent puberty in truly transgendered children is appropriate. As the unintended consequences of not providing appropriate medical care is a live time of pain and suffering.